By early March, Bitcoin had already doubled again, rising to more than $40. A couple of weeks later it surpassed $50, and then days later $60. It climbed to $70 the day after that. By the start of April 2013, Bitcoin had passed $100 in breathtaking fashion. Then eight days later it spiked to $230!

From there, it was just a week until Bitcoin was back at $68, as the bottom fell out. But then a week later, it had doubled again and traded north of $150. After the strong trading action in April and May, Bitcoin spent June and July settling down. Surely this was the peak of insanity for Bitcoin volatility.

After months of consolidating from its rise earlier in the year, Bitcoin reached new heights in November 2013. Priced at $213 entering the month, Bitcoin doubled to nearly $435 just 12 days later. By the end of the month, it had nearly tripled from there, up to more than $1,200, before ending the year at $805, a real downdraft, but still up from just $541 a couple of weeks before. Late in the year, the People’s Bank of China banned financial institutions from using bitcoins.